The mid-20th Century world was dominated by several alliances, particularly the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the Warsaw Pact. NATO had 12 founding members – Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the UK and the US – way back in 1949. Since 1952, Greece, Turkey (1952), Germany (1955), Spain (1982), Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland (1999), Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia (2004), Albania, Croatia (2009), Montenegro (2017) and Northern Macedonia (2020) have become members of the NATO. These two Cold War alliances both defined and intensified divisions between Democratic and Socialist nations. They also created the risk that a confrontation between member-states of the two alliances might expand into a Third World War. The Warsaw Pact, a military alliance between the erstwhile Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites, was effectively dissolved on March 31, 1991. Since then, NATO has gained strength in Europe. Now, the Alliance has 30 member-states, including 28 European countries, with military forces constantly being organised in Eastern Europe.

Majority of the peace-loving people across the globe, possibly, were not aware of the activities of NATO. They have (unknowingly?) forgotten the fact that the modern world has become an unipolar one. However, this 30-nation Alliance has been teasing a former Super Power for long. The Super Power, with a rich history of thousands of years, had saved the World from the Nazis during the Second World War. It is not politically wise to push such a Power against the wall. They had done the same thing with Germany after the First World War.

Furthermore, the former Super Power is being ruled by an extreme nationalist Head of State, who has always undermined Democratic Values. As this ruler does not believe in peaceful negotiation, he invaded a neighbouring country on February 24, 2022. He has also made it clear that his main aim is to counter the aggressive policies of NATO.

As expected, innocent common people have become the worst sufferers due to this war. There is nothing new in it, as wars have always affected the common citizens. And thousands of military personnel, holding pictures of their children, will silently fall on the snow. The ongoing war shall stop one day, while another one shall begin. In other words, wars shall continue like this. Perhaps, peace-loving people have a big role in this, as they sit idle during the period of so-called peace. They hardly take any positive steps to stop the war, forever.

One may recall that the 35th US President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), had reportedly said: “The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us.” His statement may have become a bit ironic as JFK was assassinated in 1963.

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/boundlessoceanofpolitics/

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/kousdas?s=09

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Linkedin:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/boundless-ocean-of-politics

Contact us: kousdas@gmail.com

Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das